CPRIT's Governing Board Ratifies $114 Million in New Cancer Awards

AUSTIN, Texas --(Business Wire)--

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) today announced funding of more than $114 million to support a variety of cancer-fighting efforts in Texas. To date, 454 grants have been recommended by the Institute's peer review experts, presented to its 11-member governing board, and funded. The 45 newly funded projects and scientific recruits bring the total amount of grants awarded by CPRIT since its inception to more than $760 million.

The latest round of funding includes seven Multi-Investigator Research Awards (MIRAs), which allow "dream teams" of scientists handpicked from multiple academic institutions to work together collaboratively on oncology research projects, as well as 14 projects to expand access to critical cancer prevention programs across Texas.

In addition, 20 CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research awards, designed to attract leading cancer scientists to Texas, were approved for funding and could bring investigators from medical institutions such as Harvard, Columbia, MIT (News - Alert) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to the state. Not counting these awards, CPRIT has already successfully recruited 38 investigators to Texas since 2009.

"This is the tenth time the Oversight Committee has ratified the slates presented by CPRIT, and the momentum in the fight against cancer only continues to grow," said Jimmy Mansour, founding chairman of CPRIT's governing board. "I couldn't be more pleased with the caliber of projects brought forward for funding today, and I am excited to see how these exceptional projects and researchers contribute toward stopping cancer in its tracks."

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Highlights among the funded projects include:

Screening programs for colorectal, breast and cervical cancers to be conducted in Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston, Galveston and San Antonio.
Programs focused on survivor care, specifically addressing the education of health care professionals such as social workers, nurses and reproductive specialists.
Two Phase II clinical trials studying interventions in breast cancer and acute myelogenous leukemia, respectively.
A collaboration between UT Southwestern, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and Baylor College of Medicine aimed at identifying and tracking genetic changes, as they occur in real time, in sarcoma patients across Texas.

"Texas is quickly becoming the epicenter for the fight against cancer," said CPRIT Executive Director Bill Gimson. "By laying the foundation for cancer prevention programs across the state, encouraging our scientists to collaborate on a statewide level and helping bring some of the brightest minds in oncology to Texas, CPRIT has a tremendous role to play in making cancer a thing of the past, once and for all."

For a full list of newly funded projects, please visit the grant awards section of CPRIT's website.

About CPRIT

Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment in 2007 establishing CPRIT and authorizing the state to issue $3 billion in bonds to fund groundbreaking cancer research and prevention programs and services in Texas. CPRIT's goal is to expedite innovation and commercialization in the area of cancer research and to enhance access to evidence-based prevention programs and services throughout the state. CPRIT accepts applications and awards grants for a wide variety of cancer-related research and for the delivery of cancer prevention programs and services by public and private entities located in Texas. More information about CPRIT is available on its website, www.cprit.state.tx.us.